1878. 



GLEANINGS IK BEE CULTURE. 



163 



I have never advised exchanging stocks 

 in the way you described, even to strengthen 

 \\\y the weak, for the very reason you have 

 mentioned ; it will often result in the death 

 of the queens. Your hives being all sorts 

 of sizes and colors, really made matters 

 M'orse. Sometimes, they can be moved 

 about, without any apparent damage result- 

 ing ; but the reverse is so often the case, I 

 would recommend moving bees about, in 

 the apiary, as little as possible. 



SMOKERS. 



That smoker of yours is, in my opinion, a first-rate 

 article. Prof. Cook to the contrary, notwithstanding-; 

 and I think I would like it better, as it is, than with 

 a long-er tube side to the bellows. I don't suppose 

 that many would think yours an imitation of Bing- 

 ham's, as soon as that his was an imitation of Quin- 

 by's. As for the patents, they will, doubtless, soon 

 w'ant a patent on our eating-. I don't know but it is 

 all right for a man to g-et a patent on a new article, 

 but patenting old principles turned over. I don't 

 think is "the thing." V. W. Keeney. 



Shirland, 111., April 2d, 18T8. 



But you see, my friend, there are a great 

 many of us, and we have a great many dif- 

 ferent notions. I presume smokers will be 

 much like hives and frames ; different kinds 

 will be needed to please everybody. The 

 following came in the same mail with your 

 letter. 



The smoker came to hand. I have no personal 

 interest in smokers, but must say that I much prefer 

 the Bingham to others. Success to Gleanings. 



r. A. Snell. 



Milledge^-ille, 111., April 4th, 1878. . 



We have two barrels of the Bingham 

 smokers right close at hand, a "big box'' of 

 Quinby's, and the girls and boys are making 

 our own by the hundreds, so, you see, we 

 can give you just what you prefer. I wish 

 to sell you just which will please you most ; 

 but I make the most money in selling the 

 Bingham and Quinby; so," you see, I can 

 afford to be impartial. 



The smoker came all right, and 1 am much pleased 

 with it. I can not speak of comparative merits, as it 

 is the only rne 1 ever saw. 



My bee bonnet is a shaker with wire cloth sewed 

 in front, and a deep cape all around; I can put on a 

 sacque, if they are cross, and tuck the cape in, and 

 feel very safe; they seldom sting my hands. I think j 

 such a bonnet would be nice for beginners. I hope 

 friend Joiner was as good naturcd when his bees j 

 swaimed as in telling it. Hannah W. Williams. | 



Springville, Iowa, April 5th, 1878. I 



Xow, I sup-pose that shaker is real nice ' 

 and comfortable, but. friend Hannah, you 

 would not wish to see "us men folks'' pok- 

 ing around oiu' beeyards with shakers on, 

 would you ? There' is a strawberry patch ; 

 close by our apiary, and — well, I always find j 

 all sorts of veils -"'awfully" in the way, for : 

 some of the strawberry vines have wandered j 

 up quite close to the hives. ! 



I received the samples I sent to you for, and like 

 them well. New I would like one of those frames 

 that you "could not walk out around the stairway, 

 but woke up in the night and planned." By the way, 

 friend Root, I would like to ask if that is the way 

 you usually sleep; walking around the stairway. I 

 think I will tell you a little about my bees, as I wish 

 to enter the ranks, as a bct-keepcr. 1 began about two 

 years ago with two swarms; have since bought 

 some. J keep an account of all my expenses and in- 

 come. My expenses so far, including yard, hives, 

 and all, are two hundred dollars; my income is one 

 hundred and fifty: but we have, for the fifty dollars 

 lacking in income thirty six colonies, nicely packed 

 in chaff, as directed in Gleanings. If last summer 

 had been as good a season as the pre%nous one, I 

 should have had my bees all clear of expense before 

 this time; but it was a poor season. In this section, 

 many late swarms are already dead, 



I can hardly tell you how 'invaluable Gleanings 

 IS to me. One of my friends talked of buying some 

 bees, and I thought I would give him one of my 

 numbers; but, -when I looked thtm over, 1 could not 

 spare one, although I have read them over many 

 times. A. W. Anderson. 



Cambridgeboro, Pa., Jan. 10th, 1878. 



temperature in bives, in winter. 



This winter, when the thermometer stood 8^ below 

 zero, in the air, near my hives, I placed the ther- 

 mometer just over the cluster of bees In the hive, 

 and under the rat chaff that was in the top of the 

 hive, and let it stny thtre half an hour. On looking 

 at it again, 1 found it stood at 54- above zeru, showing 

 a difference of 62^ that the bees were keeping up, 

 and the chaff was keeping right with them. Last 

 April, «-h( n the thermometer stood at 4.*^ in the air, 

 1 slipped it between the outmle of the hive and the 

 ,straw that was packed around it, and it soon rose to 

 • u'cr 60-. Doesn't that speak well tor chaff and pro- 

 tection of hives? W. S. Boyd. 



Hamilton, Ohio, April 3d. 1878. 



I am wintering 172 good swarms, so you see that, if 

 I double them down to about 125 in the spring, I will 

 ha\e busy times. 



I think my method of disposing of natural swarms 

 so as to prevent any increase, is about as effectual 

 as any. Suppose No. 1 swarms first; if No. 2 swarms 

 within ten days thereafter, I destroy the queen cell 

 in No. 1, and hive No. 2 in No. 1; and so on through- 

 out the season. This method will satisfy a great 

 many swarms for awhile, and a great many it will 

 not. This, Mr. Editor, is what we call running them 

 on "high pressure"; but don't forget that we get 

 box honey. Hiram Roop. 



Carson City, Mich., Feb. 5th, 1878. 



Never since we have kept bees have we ever be- 

 fore seen them in such condition thus early. Most 

 of the hives are crowded with young bees, and, early 

 in the morning, you can sec the steam puffing out 

 at the fly hole. All are yet in their chaff boxes, and 

 we shall keep them there until the latter end of 

 April, unless they should swarm before that time. 

 We commenced the winter with 102 stocks. Two 

 were found queenless March 1st. All the rest are 

 No. I stocks. I do not mean all are equally strong, 

 yet we have no weak ones. Natural pollen was 

 gathered March 10th in great abundance. 



We have no fears of spring dwindling after this 

 time. All of ovir stocks had an average of 40 lbs. of 

 stores last fall, and we have not had the blues all 

 winter for fear some might get out of honey and 

 starve to death. Neither do we have any that clus- 

 ter away on the opposite side of their stores, and 

 then give up the ghost; and we do not believe in fill- 

 ing the center of the hives with empty combs to 

 cluster in, but put plenty of honey in the center 

 combs, and then no trouble will be found about 

 starving. J. Butler. 



P. S.— It looks to me as though bee-keepers had 

 better let that grape sugar stuff alone, and not be 

 feeding their bees with it; for extracted honey has 

 nlresidy passed through quite an ordeal to establish 

 itself, and just at this time, when it is gaining favor, 

 this humbug ought not to be introduced. J. B. 



Jackson, Mich.. March 19th, 1878. 



If you will make some experiments with 

 the grape sugar, friend B., I think you will 

 agree with me. that there is but little danger 

 ot its getting into the extracted honey. The 

 bees will not touch it when honey is " in the 

 fields, and, in its candied state, it can not 

 be thrown out with the extractors. 



And now, I want to tell you about the bees, and 

 see if you don't think 1 ought to be happy. I have 

 wintered 84 colonies on their sunmier stands without 

 loss, and do not think more have died, in the whole 

 84, than enough to make one ordinary swarm. My 

 bives are nearly all 3 story L. hives. Last fall. T put 

 on the honey boards, removed the blocks from the 

 two middle holes in the Ixnivd, and laying a wisp of 

 hay over the holes, filled the second story about half 

 full of buckwheat chaff'. This is all the protection 

 they had. but I do not attriVnitc mv success so much 



